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Prefectures of Greece
Greece consists of 13 administrative regions known as Peripheries of Greece, which are further subdivided into 3 super-prefectures and 54 prefectures or nomes (Greek: νομοί, νομός, nomoi, singular – nomos). According to the Constitution of Greece the prefectures are mainly a second-degree organization of local self-government. They are not however hierarchically superior to the Communities and Municipalities of Greece. After the legislative reform of 1994 most of the administrative duties of the prefectures were transferred to the peripheries. Nevertheless, they still keep certain administrative duties attributed to them by the central government (sanitary committees, urban-planning services etc.) and they are thus also legally regarded as administrative units of the central government. The first prefectural elections took place in 1994. The prefects were previously appointed by the government. Organization The current "Prefectural Self-Governments" were formed in 1994Law 2218/1994 and replaced the previous prefectures, whose councils and prefects were appointed by the government. Prefectures are governed by a Prefectural Council (νομαρχιακό συμβούλιο) made up of 21 to 37 members,Articles 13 and 14 of the "Code of Prefectural Self-Government" (Presidential Decree 30/1996) led by the Prefect (νομάρχης) and presided by a Council President (πρόεδρος). Other organs of the prefectures are: * The Prefectural Committee, consisted of the Prefect or an assistant appointed by him and 4 to 6 members, elected by the Prefectural Council.Article 15 of the Code of Prefectural Self-Government * The Provincial Council and * The Eparchos (Sub-prefect, έπαρχος). Super-prefectures have their own organs (Council, Committee and Super-prefect). Prefectural councillors are elected via public election every four years. Three-fifths of all seats go to the combination winning a majority and two-fifths of the seats go to remaining parties based on a proportional system. Prefect becomes the president of the victorious electoral combination. Electoral is a combination which attains more than 42% in the first round of the prefectural elections. If no combination passes this threshold, a second round takes place between the two combinations that took the most votes in the first roundAccording to the legislative reform of 2006 (Law 3463/2006). See also the circular 12 of the Ministry of Interior Affairs about the upcoming local elections. Duties The State ultimately oversees the actions of local governments, including the prefectures, but the Constitution of GreeceArticle 102 of the Constitution and the Code of Prefectural Self-GovernmentArticles 1 and 8 of the Code of Prefectural Self-Government still provide communities and municipalities with legal control over the administration of their designated areas. The Code of Prefectural Self-Government does not include a non-restrictive list of prefectural duties, but a general rule, according to which the newly formed Prefectural Self-Governments have all the duties of the previous prefectures, which are related to their local affairs.About the meaning of local affairs see the Decision 888/1997 of the Council of State. Nonetheless, the affairs of "(central) state administration" belonging to the prefects before 1994 are now exerted by the Presidents of the Peripheries (περιφερειάρχης).Articles 3 and 8 of the Code of Prefectural Self-Government The current Prefectural Self-Governments have kept the "local affairs of prefectureal level" not belonging to the "(central) state administration".See the Decision 3441/1998 of the Council of State. With certain laws specific affairs of certain ministries were transferred to the Prefectural Self-Governments (sanitary committees, urban-planning services etc.).See the Law 2647/1998 for instance. List of prefectures (see below) Euboea Evrytania Phocis Phthiotis Boeotia Chalkidiki Imathia Kilkis Pella Pieria Serres Thessaloniki Chania Heraklion Lasithi Rethymno Drama Evros Kavala Rhodope Xanthi Arta Ioannina Preveza Thesprotia Corfu Kefallinia Prefecture Lefkada Zakynthos Chios Lesbos Samos Arcadia Argolis Corinthia Laconia Messinia Cyclades Dodecanese Karditsa Larissa Magnesia Trikala Achaea Aetolia-Acarnania Elis Florina Grevena Kastoria Kozani a Mount Athos The periphery of Attica (labelled 1 in the map above) consist of the following prefectures: #Athens #East Attica #Piraeus #West Attica List of landlocked prefectures Drama Kilkis Pella Florina Kastoria Kozani Grevena Ioannina Trikala Karditsa Evrytania (Of the above, Florina and Kastoria are doubly landlocked.) List of prefectures consisting solely of islands or parts of islands Corfu Kefallinia Prefecture Lefkada Zakynthos Chios Lesbos Samos Euboea Cyclades Dodecanese Chania Rethymno Heraklion Lasithi List of primarily mainland prefectures that also include islands Evros (Samothrace) Kavala (Thasos) Magnesia (Skopelos, Skiathos, Alonnisos) Piraeus (Salamis, Aegina, Poros, Hydra, Spetses, Kythera) List of exclaves Troizina is an exclave of the prefecture of Piraeus on the northern coast of geographical Argolis, bordering the prefecture of Argolis on the south List of prefectures bordering foreign countries (traversing the border of Greece in an east-to-west direction) Evros (Turkey, Bulgaria) Rhodope (Bulgaria) Xanthi (Bulgaria) Drama (Bulgaria) Serres (Bulgaria, Republic of Macedonia) Kilkis (Republic of Macedonia) Pella (Republic of Macedonia) Florina (Republic of Macedonia, Albania) Kastoria (Albania) Ioannina (Albania) Thesprotia (Albania) List of prefectures whose territorial sea abuts that of a foreign country ;with Albania: * Corfu * Thesprotia ;with Turkey: *Evros *Lesbos *Chios *Samos *Dodecanese List of geographically extremal prefectures Easternmost prefecture: Dodecanese (island of Kastellorizo) Northernmost prefecture: Evros Westernmost prefecture: Corfu (island of Othonoi) Southernmost prefecture: Chania (island of Gavdos). Also, the southernmost place of Europe. Prefecture with the longest distance between two of its points ("longest diameter"): Dodecanese (draw a line from Anidros, an islet NW of Patmos, to the islet of Stroggyli, the easternmost place in Greece, just east of Kastellorizo) Prefecture with the shortest distance between two of its points ("shortest diameter"): Lefkas List of prefectures that share a name with their capital Xanthi Drama Kavala Serres Kilkis Thessaloniki Ioannina Preveza Arta Corfu Lefkada Zakynthos Florina Grevena Kastoria Kozani Larissa Trikala Karditsa Athens Piraeus Chios Samos Chania Rethymno Heraklion List of prefectures whose capital is not their largest city Chalkidiki (capital: Polygyros; largest city: Nea Moudania) Pella (capital: Edessa; largest city: Giannitsa) Boeotia (capital: Livadia; largest city: Thiva) Aetolia-Akarnania (capital: Mesologgi; largest city: Agrinio) West Attica (capital: Elefsis; largest city: Megara) East Attica (capital: Pallini; largest city: Acharnes) Argolis (capital: Nafplion; largest city: Argos) Lasithi (capital: Agios Nikolaos; largest city: Ierapetra) List of prefectures with the least populous capitals Chalkidiki (capital: Polygyros with a population of 6,232) Samos (capital: Vathy with a population of 6,275) Evrytania (capital: Karpenisi with a population of 6,775) Phokis (capital: Amfissa with a population of 6,946) Lefkas (capital: Lefkas with a population of 7,548) Thesprotia (capital: Igoumenitsa with a population of 9,104) Kefallinia Prefecture (capital: Argostoli with a population of 9,522) Grevena (capital: Grevena with a population of 10,447) Lasithi (capital: Agios Nikolaos with a population of 10,906) Zakynthos (capital: Zakynthos with a population of 11,224) List of prefectures with the most populous capitals Athens (capital: Athens with a population of 745,514. Note: the Athens metropolitan complex transcends the boundaries of the Athens prefecture, and has a cumulative population of 3,7 million) Thessaloniki (capital: Thessaloniki with a population of 363,987 ; metropolitan area population at approximately 809,457) Piraeus (capital: Piraeus with a population of 175,697 ; part of the wider Athens metropolitan complex) Achaea (capital: Patras with a population of 161,114) Heraclion (capital: Heraclion with a population of 133,012) Larisa (capital: Larisa with a population of 124,786) Magnesia (capital: Volos with a population of 82,439) Ioannina (capital: Ioannina with a population of 61,629) Kavala (capital: Kavala with a population of 60,802) Serres (capital: Serres with a population of 54,666) List of largest cities that are not prefecture capitals Peristeri (population: 137,918; prefecture: Athens) Kallithea (population: 109,609; prefecture: Athens) Nikaia (population: 93,086; prefecture: Piraeus) Kalamaria (population: 87,255; prefecture: Thessalonica) Ilio (population: 80,859; prefecture: Athens) Glyfada (population: 80,409; prefecture: Athens) Zografou (population: 76,115; prefecture: Athens) Keratsini (population: 76,102; prefecture: Piraeus) Ilioupoli (population: 75,904; prefecture: Athens) Acharnes (population: 75,341; prefecture: East Attica) Egaleo (population: 74,046; prefecture: Athens) Nea Smyrni (population: 73,986; prefecture: Athens) Chalandri (population: 71,684; prefecture: Athens) Amarousio (population: 69,470; prefecture: Athens) Korydallos (population: 67,456; prefecture: Piraeus) Nea Ionia (population: 66,017; prefecture: Athens) Agios Dimitrios (population: 65,173; prefecture: Athens) Paleo Faliro (population: 64,759; prefecture: Athens) Vironas (population: 61,102; prefecture: Athens) Galatsi (population: 58,042; prefecture: Athens) Evosmos (population: 52,624; prefecture: Thessalonica) Petroupoli (population: 48,327; prefecture: Athens) Chaidari (population: 46,276; prefecture: Athens) Iraklio Attikis (population: 45,926; prefecture: Athens) Agrinio (population: 44,030; prefecture: Aetolia-Acarnania) largest non-capital that is not a suburb of Athens, Piraeus, or Thessalonica List of prefectures that border a single other prefecture Chalcidice (borders Thessaloniki; also borders Mount Athos, which is not a province stricto sensu) Chania (borders Rethymno) Lasithi (borders Heraklion) Evros (borders Rhodope) List of prefectures that border the most (seven, 7) other prefectures (prefectures bordered ordered in an anti-clockwise manner) Kozani (borders Imathia, Pella, Florina, Kastoria, Grevena, Larisa, Pieria) Larisa (borders Pieria, Kozani, Grevena, Trikala, Karditsa, Phthiotis, Magnesia) Phthiotis (borders Magnesia, Larisa, Karditsa, Evrytania, Aetolia-Akarnania, Phokis, Boeotia) List of prefectures that are part of the Greek state since independence Attica Boeotia Phthiotis Phocis Evrytania Euboea Aetolia-Acarnania Cyclades Corinthia Argolis Arcadia Laconia Messinia Achaea Elis Notes: Many of the prefectures were originally combined in pairs: Attica and Boeotia formed Attica-Boeotia Phthiotis and Phocis formed Phthiotis-Phocis Corinthia and Argolis formed Argolia-Corinthia Achaea and Elis formed Elis-Achaia Aetolia-Acarnania originally also included Evrytania. Unlike the rest mentioned above, the prefecture never broke up into two prefectures, thus being the only one left with a composite appellation. Messinia originally included the southern half of what is now Elis. Laconia originally included the southern-eastern half of what is now Messinia. Eboea originally included the islands of what is now Magnesia. The territory of Phthiotis did not originally include the province of Domokos, which was part of Thessaly (under Ottoman rule until 1881). The area currently constituting the Domokos province of the prefecture of Fthiotis only became a part of the Greek state in general, and of Fthiotis in particular, after the annexation of Thessaly to Greece in 1881. Arcadia and the Cyclades are the only prefectures to have their borders unchanged since independence. The capital of Argolis, Nafplion was the first capital of the modern Greek state (1828-1834), before the moving of the capital to Athens by King Otto. List of former prefectures of Greece *Argyrokastron (1914-1916) *Korytsa (1914-1916) See also *List of the prefectures of Greece by area *List of the prefectures of Greece by population density *List of the prefectures of Greece by population *ISO 3166-2:GR External links * Map of Greece Notes Category:Prefectures of Greece Category:Subdivisions of Greece Greece, Prefectures Greece 2 Category:Second-level administrative country subdivisions Category:Greece-related lists bg:Ном (Гърция) cy:Nomau Groeg da:Præfekturer i Grækenland el:Νομοί της Ελλάδας es:Prefecturas de Grecia fr:Nomes de la Grèce it:Prefetture della Grecia la:Index nomorum Graeciae hr:Grčke prefekture hu:Görögország prefektúrái nl:Departementen van Griekenland ja:ギリシャの地方行政区画 mk:Префектури на Грција no:Prefekturer i Hellas oc:nòme (Grècia) pt:Prefeituras da Grécia ru:Номы Греции sr:Префектуре Грчке sv:Greklands prefekturer tr:Yunanistan'ın vilayetleri uk:Номи Греції zh:希腊州份